Hardball Lesson 1: It's Not Who You Know But Who You Get To Know
Login info: ccsark and mcgehee Rule:
Simply knowing an important political figure will not give you power or allow you to advance in your situation. However, establishing personal relationships and connections with these figures allows one to become more powerful and efficient in their ordeals.
Chris Matthews
Example of Rule from the Book:
In Hardball, Matthews writes that he kept up with his old speech writing boss, Hendrik Hertzberg.In the early 1980’s Hertzberg published several of Matthew’s articles in The New Republic, an American magazine involving politics and the arts. Because of these articles Matthews received two calls: one from James Silberman, the president and editor of Summit Books and one from Simon & Schuster, one of the four largest English language publishers of which Summit Books is a division of.During these two phone calls Matthews was encouraged to write a book.Therefore, he wrote Hardball.Without his personal relationship with Hertzberg, Matthews might not have had much of a career as a journalist and he never would have caught the attention of Silberman and Simon & Schuster.
Hendrik Hertzberg
James Silberman
Example of rule in Current Events:
Obama recently announced his running mate, Joe Biden.In his speech announcing Biden, Obama talked about how Biden lost his wife and infant daughter in a car crash as well as struggled through a brain aneurism, saying that this was the kind of leader he wanted.This shows that Biden and Obama have a very personal relationship.Biden is a Delaware Senator who is serving his sixth term in office.His relationship with Obama is bringing him from a senator to a potential vice president.Not only does Obama help Biden, but because Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he brings knowledge of foreign policy to Obama’s campaign, which allows GOP attacks saying he does not have this experience tjo be faulty.Therefore, due to Obama and Biden’s relationship both have something to give that helps the other thrive.
Example in Real Life: STORY 1
Over the summer, Claudia went to dinner with her family and they started talking about college and where Claudia would do her internship. Since she has a personal relationship with her uncle and he is one of the leading doctors in the eye clinic in Baton Rouge, Claudia would therefore be able to complete her internship by following in his footsteps.
Example in Real Life: STORY 2
The Livaudais family has been a member of the Southern Yacht club for 73 years. It all began with Jacques Andre Livaudais. He became a member of the Southern Yacht Club on January 1, 1935. One of Mr. Livaudais’ children, Mary Elizabeth Livaudais spent her entire life at the yacht club. Mary Elizabeth got married to H.J Platt, who soon became a member in July of 1990. Together they had children Ellie and Jordan Platt. Just like their mother, Ellie and Jordan both grew up at the yacht club. This is where they discovered swimming. Since they were three years old they swam for the country club team and other various swim teams. Jordan lost interest and stopped at the age of 13, while Ellie continued to swim each summer for the Yacht Club. This summer in particular, Ellie finally had the opportunity, along with her friend Grace (who just like Ellie swam for the Yacht club her whole life) to coach the swim team (Picture A), a team they had dreamed of coaching. Since the Yacht Club was burned down from Katrina, they practiced at the Reily Center every night from 6:30-7:30. One evening, a male lifeguard had been watching Ellie and Grace’s every move. They noticed, but did not think anything of it. Once practice was over, the man stepped down the lifeguard stand and walked right up to them. They questioned themselves, why was this strange man talking to them? He introduced himself as Brandon. He explained that they both worked well with kids and that they should apply for a summer job at Ripples as an aquatics specialist. Ellie and Grace both looked at each other, and said together, “yeah, alright, whatever”. Brandon gave them a name and number to Bruce, the head of Ripples Summer Camp. In the car ride home, they both pondered, “What else would they do during the summer? Plus, it is a great opportunity!” Before they knew it, they scheduled a meeting with Bruce and got the job! Turned out to be the best summer they had ever had. They made many friends that will remain their friends forever, Ripples truly became their family (Picture B). Without Ellie’s Grandfather, she might not have had this great opportunity for not only the Southern Yacht Club swim team but most importantly Ripples.
PICTURE A:
Southern Yacht Club Swim Team
PICTURE B:
Ripples Aquatics Staff
Works Cited: Claudia With Her Uncle.Khaki Kohnke.August 26, 2008.
Getty Images. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. 26 April 2007. Daily Life. Getty Images. 25 August 2008. <http://www.daylife.com/photo/0fYYaJ68xW5bC> Hendrik Hertzberg. BikeReader.com.August 23, 2008. <www.bikereader.com/.../hertzberg/>
Hoch, Maureen. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. 23 April 2008.
Hardball Lesson 1: It's Not Who You Know But Who You Get To Know
Login info: ccsark and mcgeheeRule:
Simply knowing an important political figure will not give you power or allow you to advance in your situation. However, establishing personal relationships and connections with these figures allows one to become more powerful and efficient in their ordeals.
Example of Rule from the Book:
In Hardball, Matthews writes that he kept up with his old speech writing boss, Hendrik Hertzberg. In the early 1980’s Hertzberg published several of Matthew’s articles in The New Republic, an American magazine involving politics and the arts. Because of these articles Matthews received two calls: one from James Silberman, the president and editor of Summit Books and one from Simon & Schuster, one of the four largest English language publishers of which Summit Books is a division of. During these two phone calls Matthews was encouraged to write a book. Therefore, he wrote Hardball. Without his personal relationship with Hertzberg, Matthews might not have had much of a career as a journalist and he never would have caught the attention of Silberman and Simon & Schuster.
Example of rule in Current Events:
Obama recently announced his running mate, Joe Biden. In his speech announcing Biden, Obama talked about how Biden lost his wife and infant daughter in a car crash as well as struggled through a brain aneurism, saying that this was the kind of leader he wanted. This shows that Biden and Obama have a very personal relationship. Biden is a Delaware Senator who is serving his sixth term in office. His relationship with Obama is bringing him from a senator to a potential vice president. Not only does Obama help Biden, but because Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he brings knowledge of foreign policy to Obama’s campaign, which allows GOP attacks saying he does not have this experience tjo be faulty. Therefore, due to Obama and Biden’s relationship both have something to give that helps the other thrive.
Example in Real Life: STORY 1
Over the summer, Claudia went to dinner with her family and they started talking about college and where Claudia would do her internship. Since she has a personal relationship with her uncle and he is one of the leading doctors in the eye clinic in Baton Rouge, Claudia would therefore be able to complete her internship by following in his footsteps.
Example in Real Life: STORY 2
The Livaudais family has been a member of the Southern Yacht club for 73 years. It all began with Jacques Andre Livaudais. He became a member of the Southern Yacht Club on January 1, 1935. One of Mr. Livaudais’ children, Mary Elizabeth Livaudais spent her entire life at the yacht club. Mary Elizabeth got married to H.J Platt, who soon became a member in July of 1990. Together they had children Ellie and Jordan Platt. Just like their mother, Ellie and Jordan both grew up at the yacht club. This is where they discovered swimming. Since they were three years old they swam for the country club team and other various swim teams. Jordan lost interest and stopped at the age of 13, while Ellie continued to swim each summer for the Yacht Club. This summer in particular, Ellie finally had the opportunity, along with her friend Grace (who just like Ellie swam for the Yacht club her whole life) to coach the swim team (Picture A), a team they had dreamed of coaching. Since the Yacht Club was burned down from Katrina, they practiced at the Reily Center every night from 6:30-7:30. One evening, a male lifeguard had been watching Ellie and Grace’s every move. They noticed, but did not think anything of it. Once practice was over, the man stepped down the lifeguard stand and walked right up to them. They questioned themselves, why was this strange man talking to them? He introduced himself as Brandon. He explained that they both worked well with kids and that they should apply for a summer job at Ripples as an aquatics specialist. Ellie and Grace both looked at each other, and said together, “yeah, alright, whatever”. Brandon gave them a name and number to Bruce, the head of Ripples Summer Camp. In the car ride home, they both pondered, “What else would they do during the summer? Plus, it is a great opportunity!” Before they knew it, they scheduled a meeting with Bruce and got the job! Turned out to be the best summer they had ever had. They made many friends that will remain their friends forever, Ripples truly became their family (Picture B). Without Ellie’s Grandfather, she might not have had this great opportunity for not only the Southern Yacht Club swim team but most importantly Ripples.
PICTURE A:
PICTURE B:
Works Cited:
Claudia With Her Uncle. Khaki Kohnke. August 26, 2008.
Getty Images. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. 26 April 2007. Daily Life.
Getty Images. 25 August 2008. <http://www.daylife.com/photo/0fYYaJ68xW5bC>
Hendrik Hertzberg. BikeReader.com. August 23, 2008. <www.bikereader.com/.../hertzberg/>
Hoch, Maureen. Barack Obama and Joe Biden. 23 April 2008.
James Silberman. FrankYerby.com. August 23, 2008. <http://www.frankyerby.com/image/
picture3.jpg>
Simon & Schuster Logo. Internzoo.com. August 24, 2008. <http://internzoo.com/Company/
Logo.aspx?id=129>
“Obama announced Biden as Running Mate.” CNN.com. August 23, 2008. CNN. August 23, 2008. <
25 August 2008.
<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/reportersblog/2008/08/mccain_ad_takes_a_quick_hit_on.html>
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/23/biden.democrat.vp.candidate/index.html>
The Online News Hour.
hertzberg.html>